Flemington Birdcage’s next stop: Australian Open, F1 and World Cup

Spacecubes being used at the Melbourne Spring Racing carnival (Lexus) – for herald sun real estate

The Melbourne Cup’s famous Birdcage’s next stop is the Australian Open, then the Grand Prix before parts of it head off to European Grand Prix races and the FIFA World Cup.

The team behind the temporary building are also hoping chunks of the more than 4600sq m of steel, aluminium and glass Lego-style modular building blocks that go into the iconic venue could also be used to help house fire and flood victims should the need arise this summer.

Spacecube chief executive Mark Davies said after a five week build the 4600sq m of structural materials underpinning the Birdcage accounted for close to half their global supply.

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“It will take us about four weeks to pack it down and then all of what we see in the Birdcage will be off to the Australian Open,” Mr Davies said.

“After that, the Australian Grand Prix. And then some of it will wind up in the US for the FIFA World Cup, and some of it will go to the Grand Prix in the UK.”

The Aussie group has also behind infrastructure at the Paris Olympics and Eurovision, with 20 of their cubes currently in transit from the UK to Australia.

Flemington’s Birdcage during construction, and after.

Inside the Birdcage at the Melbourne Cup, once it has been fully decked out.

Remarkably, given the materials are made from steel, aluminium and glass, it is cheaper and more sustainable to ship spare parts around the world than to simply build more on different continents.

But as Australia increasingly embraces modular building, his hope is that they will also be able to take up a role in providing housing.

“We do have a product line for emergency responses after disasters, which could help after floods and bushfires,” Mr Davies said.

He noted with the firm able to deploy between 50 and 200 functioning residential homes in the span of a few weeks, modular builds could be an increasingly important path to housing Australians displaced by disasters.

Materials from the Birdcage will be used at the UK’s Silverstone F1 circuit.

It’s not dissimilar to how the Melbourne Cup structures looked once finished.

“That’s where we see our biggest chance to assist the housing crisis,” Mr Davies said.

Earlier this year, the CBA became Australia’s first major bank to announce plans to support lending for modular building at up to 80 per cent of the construction loan.

Government’s at all levels have also announced plans to boost support for, and capacity of modular builders around the country.

In March this year the federal government announced a $54m fund to support the development of manufacturing for prefabricated home construction.

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